Edited by Barney R. Messed with by me.

She told me she won a vacation trip for two and said we would use it as a second honeymoon.

I am George Wagner, married and 32 years old. I am married to Susanne (Suzy) Wagner (nee Stewart), 30. We have no kids. I am a security systems designer and installation supervisor. Susanne is a personal assistant to an executive of an accounting firm.

I was sitting at the breakfast nook in the kitchen reading the newspaper when Suzy told me she had won an office prize of a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas. She said she had won it as a bonus for her job performance.

I looked up from the paper at her and said. “Have a nice trip.”

She looked at me like I had a third eye in the middle my forehead. “What do you mean, it is a trip for two. I thought we could use it to rekindle our marriage. Are you saying you won’t go?”

“Sure I will go, if you can tell me Ricky isn’t going.”

The look on her face told me I had hit the nail squarely on the head.

“Well, I am not going on a trip with you and your lover. I will stay here and get a lawyer and start the divorce.”

“I don’t want a divorce, Richard is not my lover, I have never cheated on you.” Suzy said and then she sobbed.

“You may not have cheated yet, but you and Ricky planned to have a love fest on this cruise didn’t you. Can you at least be honest about that.”

She cried out in agony and anger and ran into the bedroom.

I took my phone out and called the local Red Roof Inn and made a reservation. I went in the bedroom and ignored Suzy laying on the bed and sobbing. She saw me taking clothes out and putting them on the dresser.

“What are you doing?”

“Well, my wife is trying to cuckold me, so I will get out of her way. I am going to a hotel until you begin to be honest with me. When were you going tell me the bad news? Once we were on the cruise ship, or were you going to wait until we got back?”

I put the clothes neatly in my suitcase and closed it. I picked it up and left.

This story started eight months ago when my wife got a new boss. Richard Witten III was Suzy’s high school sweetheart. She did not tell me he had joined her company until I came to her office one day to take her to lunch. She and Ricky were in her office, and Suzy was red faced. It was a look I was very familiar with. It was the same red flush that she got just after she orgasmed when we made love.

“Sorry for the interruption, I was going to take my wife to lunch, but I see you’re both busy. I will say one thing Suzy, if you ever let ‘Ricky The Asshole’ get you off again, don’t come home because our marriage will be over.” I turned and went to my car.

As I was leaving the parking lot Suzy ran out the door trying to catch me. I was past were she could have done something to slow me down. I was angry and hurt. I went home and packed a bag for a couple of nights worth of clothes. I laid my cell phone and wedding ring on the kitchen table and went to a local Red Roof Inn.

Richard Witten III and I had a long history. We were in the same class in high school. He hated to be called Ricky, so naturally that’s what I called him. My problem with him was his attitude. He felt that because his family was rich, his shit didn’t stink. He also took great pleasure in stealing any girl from any guy he wanted to. He tried it once with me, and I whipped his ass. I was suspended for a week, but Ricky stayed away from me all the rest of high school. It was worth it.

He hit on Suzy when she was going out with a friend of Ricky’s. Yeah he was an equal opportunity stealer. For some reason, Suzy did not seem to see anything wrong with Ricky.

They were still together when his senior year started, but she caught Ricky making a play for a girlfriend of hers. Jane Quincy was as star struck as Suzy had been. She slapped Jane and kicked Ricky in the crotch.

I caught up with Suzy when I was a junior in college and she was an incoming freshman. She saw me registering for my classes in a different line then she was in. She called my name and I turned to see who it was calling me. When I saw her, I waved and tapped my watch and pointed to the exit. She held up two fingers. I shook my head and mouthed ‘one hour?’ she nodded.

We went for coffee. We caught each other up on our time since high school. She had found a new boy to date after Ricky, and they both knew that it would not last beyond high school as he was going to join the army, and she was going to an out of state college.

She also said that because of what I had done to ‘Richard’, he did not have much success in the community college he attended. He had his ass kicked at least twice that she knew of.

I told her that after he tried to snipe my girlfriend, I had not really dated any girl or woman for more than three dates. I just felt that there was no spark.

Then Suzy surprised me by asking, “Would you go out with me?”

I was startled, and hesitated. Then I said, “I’m sorry for the hesitation, I was just very surprised that you would consider me because of what I did to Ricky; and that we did not belong to the same circles in high school. Of course, my momma did not raise any brain dead kids. I would enjoy a date with you.”

We dated until I graduated and then I asked her to marry me. She said yes. The planning was exuberant, as Suzy enlisted all of her girlfriends to help. We decided on an on-campus wedding the summer between her junior and senior year. It worked out fine, as we were able to put up our out of town guests in dorms. It was a hoot.

The wedding was wonderful, and we honeymooned in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. We spent three days there and then went to Toronto.

Life was good, I got a teaching assignment in a school district just 20 minutes from the campus, and Suzy was happy with the apartment that we found about half way in between campus and my work.

When she graduated, she was hired at the firm she was still working at When ‘Ricky the Asshole’ showed up.

Life was very good, but Suzy knew that teaching was only a temporary job for me as I was pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at night.

I got my degree, and an offer from one of my professors to become a partner in a startup computer security firm. I accepted and we struggled for about eight months, and then we fixed a problem with the local city traffic computer and they launched us into a whirlwind of business. We went from the two of us to twelve employees in less than a year. When the trip was brought up we had forty six employees, and a large offer for a buy out on the table.

As with all marriages, there were times we disagreed, and times we were angry at each other. Suzy loved to spend money, and while the company was getting on its feet, there was not a lot to spare. We fought about that. Finally I told Suzy that we needed separate credit cards, and each would be responsible for their own card. After two months; end of the spending sprees. She had to borrow money from me to pay off her card. I made sure she paid me back.

We also had a big disagreement about kids. I wanted kids and Suzy wanted to wait. We waited, but things were very cold for almost six months. I finally decided to just let it happen when she was ready. Turned out to be a good decision.

We occasionally had minor disagreements about vacations, choices in things to watch on TV, you know normal stuff all minor picky little things.

We also had some awesomely wonderful times together. We discovered a little troupe of actors that had a 75 seat theatre that they put plays on in. They were so much fun that we both volunteered to work backstage with them. Suzy even had a couple of walk-ons over the three years we worked with them.

Of course, Mr. Ricky III showed up, and I went on my two day excursion of displeasure. The escape lasted for just two days when Suzy came to my office and demanded to have a talk with me. I agreed, but told her it would not be in the apartment, and that I was just about ready to grab some more clothes as what I took with me were dirty. “But I will wait to get the clothes for you to tell me how it was all a mistake and I did not see what I saw.”